He Said

03.08.12

Marc Cherry: I Tapped Nicollette Sheridan, and ‘I Apologized’

Toby Canham / Getty Images

Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry finally got to tell the jury what happened the day actress Nicollette Sheridan has claimed in a lawsuit that he struck across the left side of her face and head. Cherry testified in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday that during rehearsals on Sept. 24, 2008, he was trying to accommodate Sheridan, who was upset about a funny line of dialogue being removed from the script. Instead of giving her new words, he said, he was trying to come up with a funny physical act that her character, Edie Britt, could exit on. In the scene, Edie, and her husband, Dave (played by Neal McDonough), were teasing each other while he rehearsed music with Mike (James Denton). Cherry testified he thought it would be funny if Edie pinched Dave or tapped him on the head but Sheridan didn't understand. So he tapped her on the side of her head to show her. Immediately he knew something was wrong because Sheridan paused and gave him a look “like she was making a decision” and yelled “You hit me! You hit me! And it’s not OK!” Sheridan stormed off set and Cherry, who says he was stunned, talked with others who were present and decided to go apologize to her “because we needed her on set.” “When I apologized to her in her trailer, it was a sincere apology that I had inadvertently offended her ... I had upset her and I don’t like upsetting any of my actresses.” In court on Thursday, Cherry managed to do just that again. As he walked back to his seat after testifying, Sheridan mouthed,“Bastard!”